OSCOLA referencing style is used when submitting work for a module for the School of Law.  Due to the complexity of particular sources, some entries are very detailed.  Make sure to fully read each page.

This source is not covered by the OSCOLA style manual. Suggestions on this page are modelled on FAQs on the OSCOLA website but have not yet been discussed and approved by the OSCOLA editorial board.

 

A blog a general web page and will probably have an author and a title for the blog post or comment.  The assumption is that you will reference an individual blog post or comment, and that if using more than one, you will reference each one separately.  Give a specific URL (web address) and date for the blog post or comment you are referencing.  Use the author's name or pseudonym if known.  If no name is given, start the citation with the title of the blog post.  If there is no author identified BE SURE TO CONSIDER if it is appropriate to cite an anonymous source in an academic legal context.

 

Footnote form

Blog Post or Blog Comment in Bibliography

No full stop is required at the end of an entry in a Reference List as this is a list.

Author Initial 'Title of blog post' (source, date) <URL> accessed date.

 

Footnote example

1 Sarah Cole, ‘Virtual Friend Fires Employee’ (Naked Law, 1 May 2009) <http://www.nakedlaw.com/2009/05/virtual-friend-fires-employee.html> accessed 19 November 2009.

 

Bibliography

Cole S ‘Virtual Friend Fires Employee’ (Naked Law, 1 May 2009) <http://www.nakedlaw.com/2009/05/virtual-friend-fires-employee.html> accessed 19 November 2009

 

Notes

  • Information on arrangement of the bibliography.
  • To locate the web address of an individual post, click on the date and time stamp beneath (or next to) the post in question to be taken to the individual status update page with its own URL. 
  • If there is no date of publication, give only the date of access. 

 

If you are referencing something from a webpage which is not available as a discrete document, you need to consider that webpages can be volatile and subject to unannounced change. Give a stable or permanent url for the item. If there is no stable URL for the item, give the homepage of the website. It is recommended that whenever possible, you access information from a stable source such as a database rather than a webpage or website.

 

Footnote form

Author, 'Title' (Type of document if relevant, date of issue if available) <URL> accessed date.

 

Footnote examples

1 'Library of Congress Exhibit Explores Early Americas' (YouTube video, 2008) <http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=eF704BwzZAA> accessed 6 June 2008.

2 BBC News, 'Call to Stop Children Drinking' (27 April 2007) <http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6596515.stm> accessed 21 August 2008.

3 N Banks, 'The NHS Direct Healthcare Guide' <http://www.healthcareguide.nhsdirect.nhs.uk> accessed 29 August 2001.

 

Bibliography

Banks N, 'The NHS Direct Healthcare Guide' <http://www.healthcareguide.nhsdirect.nhs.uk> accessed 29 August 2001

'Library of Congress Exhibit Explores Early Americas' (YouTube video, 2008) <http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=eF704BwzZAA> accessed 6 June 2008

 

Notes

  • Information on arrangement of the bibliography.
  • If no person, organisation or institution claims responsibility for the work, begin the footnote with the title.
  • Where possible, try to find a corporate author which takes editorial responsibility for the site. Where this is clearly impossible e.g. Wikipedia, YouTube sites, you may wish to consider if this is an adequate source for your purposes.
  • If there is no date of publication on the website, give only the date of access.
  • Wikipedia is banned as a source by some departments.

Reference: Faculty of Law, University of Oxford, OSCOLA: Oxford Standard for the Citation of Legal Authorities (4th edn Oxford University 2010) 42.